Monday, August 8, 2016

American Ultra

***DISCLAIMER***
The following review is entirely my opinion. If you comment (which I
encourage you to do) be respectful. If you don't agree with my opinion
(or other commenters), that's fine. To each their own. These reviews
are not meant to be statements of facts or endorsements, I am just
sharing my opinions and my perspective when watching the film and is
not meant to reflect how these films should be viewed. Finally, the
reviews are given on a scale of 0-5. 0, of course, being
unwatchable. 1, being terrible. 2, being not great. 3, being okay.
4, being great and 5, being epic! And if you enjoy these reviews
feel free to share them and follow the blog or follow me on
Twitter (@RevRonster) for links to my reviews and the occasional
live-Tweet session of the movie I'm watching! Kristen Stewart is in this film but I don't feel like making any jokes about her lethargic acting.

American Ultra – 3 out of 5

When I was first exposed to Jesse Eisenberg—probably playing
a socially awkward nerd, imagine that—I never thought that one day I would see
him in an action role.Of course, I
never would have believed you if you told me then that he would one day be Lex Luthor either.Well, that’s essentially what
Eisenberg is doing with American Ultra. Being an action star, not doing Lex Luthor again--or before, since this came out before Batman v Superman.

I think they used the same wig for Lex.

Also, what if Jason Bourne fought with fireworks?

What if Jason Bourne was a man in his early 30s with a
preference for getting stoned?Well,
that’s basically what this film is postulating.Mike Howell (Eisenberg) seems like a normal dude in a nondescript town
where he works a dead-end job at a convenience store and spends the rest of his
time getting stoned with his girlfriend Phoebe (Kristen Stewart).However, after a mysterious visit from a
woman named Victoria Lasseter (Connie Britton), he suddenly finds himself
greeted by people who want to see him dead and it seems it awakens in him killer
training that he never realized he had.Now he and his girlfriend are on the run and trying to figure out just
what the hell is happening.

Man, this remake of Tommy Boy is weird.

I have to say after finally getting a chance to sit down and
watch this one that the trailers did not do a very good job at marketing
it.The premise of having a secret agent
in the form of a slacker stoner and have him get awoken without him really
understanding what he can do is a fun twist on the spy thriller that we’ve seen
before but the actually execution of American Ultra left me wanting a little
more.

But there was definitely some killer moments!(Pun intended)

One of the weakest parts of the film is the fact that the
tone is all over the place.The trailer
sells it as a wacky dark comedy but the film can’t quite nail down any one
tone.At times it is a stoner comedy,
sometimes it’s a romcom or just a romantic drama and then it brings in some
bloody and hardcore action and becomes an action film.Shifting tones can work and a lot of films
have done it but American Ultra can't quite nail it down and it spends its entire
running length feeling like it doesn’t quite know what it wants to be.It’s definitely distracting but not entirely
terrible.

The performances in the film can vary quite a bit.Kristen Stewart and Connie Britton are decent
but not entirely memorable and Jesse Eisenberg can be fun but, at his core,
he’s still playing the same guy that we’ve seen him play way too many times
before.On the great end of the spectrum
with the cast is a really amusing and fun performance from John Leguizamo; who
plays a friend of Mike’s, there’s Topher Grace as a CIA operative who is a
complete dick but one of those jerk characters that are fun to watch and,
finally, you have Walton Goggins as an operative similar to Mike that is not
only a great antagonist and terrifically performed but also has a very interesting
arc that is revealed quite well.Additionally,
Bill Pullman and Tony Hale have small roles in the film and each man does a
great job but they are incredibly small roles and neither man is really given
the time to really flex their muscles.

"Something, something our independence day."

Finally, one thing I did enjoy about this film is how they
reveal the story.Things like how Mike
came to be, the tortured past of the operative that Walton Goggins plays and a
mystery surrounding the character of Phoebe is revealed in a way that allows
for the audience to have their “Ah-ha!” moment and then expanded upon for the
sake of clarity.It has that balance of
telling and showing but never holding the hand of the viewer.

Walton Goggins is a damn versatile actor.

American Ultra has a decent idea that has some potential to
it but it just can’t quite deliver on it.With its sloppy and hodge-podge tones, the film can be amusing but never
overtly funny, it’s got some cool action moments but never epically badass or memorable
with those times and it has some drama to it but not enough where it really
could engage me on a truly invested level.The film isn’t bad and isn’t completely harmed by its problems but they
do make it an overall average feature.

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About Me

I'm a geek, an atheist (who is also an ordained reverend), a peanut butter and jelly enthusiast, a man who shares the same name with a popular character from "Parks & Rec" and feels he can't live up to the awesomeness of the fictional character, was proudly banned from Reddit, an occasional Shakespearean performer, and a stand up comic.
Have any questions, recommendations or wanna share any theories on various movies? Email me at RevRonMovies@gmail.com and I'll talk about them on my new Q&A segment!